Houston Design Center Welcomes New Owners

A Houston investment group has purchased a 16-acre property along Old Katy Road that includes the Houston Design Center, a sprawling 280,690-square-foot space with more than 40 showrooms and design offices catering to the luxury residential and commercial market.

“From a real estate investor standpoint, how excited could you be owning 16 acres inside the Loop in a wooded environment with a duck pond?” said Fred Baca of MLB Capital Partners, which recently closed on the property.

The building was developed in the 1980s and is about 95 percent leased.

The new owner is building a list of potential tenants that would want to be in the property, but the facility has generally stayed full.

“We’ve got one space that’s coming up that would be 10,000 square feet and we have a tenant already identified,” Baca said.

He would not reveal the property’s rents, but said they are competitive and take into account the type of tenant the building caters to.

“These tenants are very sensitive to economic conditions,” he said.

Just north of Interstate 10 inside the 610 Loop, Old Katy Road is increasingly becoming home to more upscale developments.

Baca notes a high-end single-family housing community slated for the east side of the center and a luxury apartment project that is planned on the west side.

MLB Capital Partners, which also includes local real estate veterans Todd Mason and Jeff Lindenberger, purchased an additional three acres of undeveloped land on the south side of the design center property. MLB will either work with a developer to build something there or sell it.

The center at 7026 Old Katy was purchased from RC Partners. The price was not disclosed.